Kung Zhu Warrior Hamster Update

byRemo

Looks like Cepia, the maker of the smash hit toy Zhu Zhu Hamster line of Christmas 2009, has released more details on their new Kung Zhu ninja hamster line recently. These little robotic hamster warriors were announced at the New York Toy Fair earlier this year, and they are about to be released!

Kung Zhu Release Date

First off the ninja hamsters now have a shipping date. These Zhu Zhu warrior furballs are set for a release date on June 20th, 2010.

What are the Kung Zhu? A new line of mechanical hamster warriors that are designed to drive the 6-12 year old boy crowd into a frenzy in the same way that Bakugan and Pokemon do.

Will it work? Hard to say. Young kids are a fickle bunch and you never know what will drive them to beg their parents for one toy over another. In this case, both Bakugan and Pokemon had two things the Kung Zhu do not:

A Japanese anime TV show that hit the airwaves the same time the toys did. Toys first and show later seems less likely to work (the Smurfs not withstanding)

A point system that required the kids to constantly seek to acquire higher level items or cards and thus drive future purchases.

Of course, the good folks at Cepia did NOT consult with the toy marketing geniuses here at The Toy Report and thus seem to have failed to include these two kids marketing mainstays in their Kung Zhu line.

None the less, there is still an excellent chance that the Kung Zhu will be the next hot toy for boys this year, especially during Christmas 2010.

What’s in the new Kung Zhu warrior hamster line from Cepia?

Kung Zhu Ninja Warriors

Cepia wanted to create a little “good vs evil” mythology behind these fighting hamster robots, and thus the Zhu Zhu Ninja Warriors were born. Seeing as how Cepia is a US company, we can only assume that the Ninja’s are the BAD Kung Zhu, while the Special Forces hamsters are the good guys.

The Kung Fu hamsters that make up the Ninja Zhu are named Yama, Azer, Thorn, and Drakyko.

Kung Zhu Special Forces

The Special Forces Zhu Zhu’s apparently stand in opposition to the evil Ninja’s and come in a variety of khaki and camouflage green colors. They have various military ranks and markings on them. The Special Forces hamsters include such notable Kung Zhu warriors as Sgt. Serge, Stone Wall, Rivet Duke, and Rock-O.

Zhu Zhu Training Grounds and Battle Arenas

Of course, what warrior hamster’s life would be complete without a Training Ground in which to learn the ways of the hamster fighter, and a Battle Arena in which to do battle! Check out this video for what happens when a Kung Zhu passes through the Training Ground and into the Battle Arena, transforming it from a simple lovable robot hamster into a machine of hamster doom!